Boeing’s Very Own Smart Growth Condos in Seattle

In recent years, several Smart Growth towers were constructed along the shore of Lake Washington (in Renton, near Seattle), near the Boeing offices and manufacturing facilities. This area is adjacent to Gene Coulon Park, a popular park along Lake Washington for boating and cycling along the lake.

And, The Landing is nearby, a Lifestyle Center featuring small shops along with larger merchandisers such as Lowes, Target, Sams Club, and Frys Electronics. As is typical of smart growth developments, what is missing is a conventional supermarket, forcing residents to drive out of the area for food. This defeats the smart growth proponents’ goals of saving gasoline and preventing climate change.

Another issue shown below is public private space (more photos here), with private property near the condos also serving as the public “waterfront” along Lake Washington. While no security guard stopped me in taking pictures, I and several others may have been trespassing. This is design failure in smart growth / mixed use developments in urban environments.

One entrance to the Boeing Smart Growth Condos. Looks like Public Property along Lake Washington, but it’s probably not.

Hmmm…… I didn’t see the sign until AFTER walking in.

From Renton’s Gene Coulon Park, looking at the Boeing production facilities, and the Smart Growth Condos on the left. Why would anyone want to live so close to a noisy, polluted manufacturing plant? The suburbs were designed for families to get away from pollution in cities.

Boeing Employees get a special discount.

Roundabout at the Landing Lifestyle Center. Many of the shoppes are still for lease.

Sometimes, only a blurry photo from a moving auto can accurately show the horrible traffic, on the 6 to 8 lane boulevards surrounding Smart Growth towers.

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4 comments on “Boeing’s Very Own Smart Growth Condos in Seattle”

Thank you for this excellent website. We are working to expose UN Agenda 21/Sustainable Development, and its primary elements of Smart Growth and Wildlands, across the US. I’d like to use your photo of the Boeing Reserve condos on my site, with your permission. I’d be happy to send you a copy of my book BEHIND THE GREEN MASK: UN Agenda 21. Spreading the information about Smart Growth and the Wildlands project, and the larger context of the transition to a totalitarian state is essential for the preservation of our nation.

Awareness is the first step in the Resistance
Rosa Koire
Executive Director
Post Sustainability Institute

Rosa – I respectfully disagree that Smart Growth is a direct result of Agenda 21, since most states do not have mandatory smart growth plans, although Washington, Oregon, and California certainly do. I am primarily against smart growth because it’s bad design and aesthetically unpleasing. And, rationing land with urban growth boundaries creates a shortage of affordable housing for families.

Markets without urban growth boundaries, such as Albuquerque and Salt Lake City, have homes on quarter and half acre lots starting in the low 100’s. Agenda 21 covers a wide variety of environmental issues, not just smart growth.

In general, I am not opposed to the United Nations, as I believe that cooperating with other nations is one technique that could lead to world peace and species preservation.

I know that many of my readers disagree, since I am neither a Libertarian nor a conspiracy theorist. However, certainly money talks, and undoubtedly smart growth contractors and transit unions work with local city councils to get their projects approved. These behinds the scenes relationships have been typical of American politics since George Washington. That’s where I feel we should focus our efforts – let’s throw the City Councilors and Urban Planners out of office, who are accepting gifts from construction companies that build smart growth.

In your area, you have the controversial Bay Area Association of Governments smart growth plan. Marin County is a beautiful place. I was recently in Mill Valley and absolutely love it there, except for the congestion and expensive housing due to urban growth boundaries. More density will mean more traffic, and make it more dangerous for cyclists. If readers ever visit the Mill Valley Whole Foods, check out the ceiling, where they’ve suspended hundreds of bike wheels. (Photos, later.) Let us know what’s happening with the proposed Bay Area smart growth plan. -Tom Lane

Rosa, is right. This is all about Agenda21. The plan is to move us off of our land (rural, suburban, etc) and put us into stack and pack, high density housing. These are called :”Human Settlements” in the UN’s Agenda21 Sustainable Development program. All other land will be off limits to humans and will be converted to wildlife corridors. This is known as the Wildlands Project. The land will then be used to mitigate CO2 emmissions by selling carbon credits through CAP n’ Trade. This is NOT about the environment. This is about Control and $$$$. SMART Growth is Agenda21!

Since Smart Growth was developed before Agenda 21 was written in the 1980’s, then it’s more likely that UN Agenda 21 is a result of those who started smart growth, rather than the other way around. Nevertheless, if you do not like smart growth in your community, be sure to get involved in local politics, and oppose high density smart growth developments and urban growth boundaries.

In the USA, smart growth began in Boulder with the voter approved urban growth boundary (UGB) in the 1960’s. California cities have been establishing UGB’s since the 1970’s. Oregon passed its highly restrictive growth management plan in the 1970’s, and Washington followed with a slightly less restrictive plan in the 1990’s.

I am not opposed to conservation of land for species preservation. In fact, rather than using the same federal lands for multiple uses, I feel that it’s best to designate some land for logging, mining, and natural gas, and other areas for parks and wildlife preserves.

The best was to reduce CO2 and other greenhouse gases is natural gas, hybrid, and electric vehicles, and building more freeway lanes to reduce congestion. Engines are most efficient, in terms of gas mileage and producing less emissions, at 55 mph compared to lower speeds.

Ratings for Smart Growth USA since January 2010

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I, Tom Lane, pledge to always be the “Voice of Independence,” in a world dominated by “true believers,” of the ephemeral, and very unpopular, urban planning paradigm, of “smart growth.” I will always advocate family friendly, green neighborhood design, with large private yards, oversized parks, organic gardens, mountain bike trails, and native plants protected by ordinance. Everything must be in harmony with nature, in the grand traditions of designers Ian McHarg and Frank Lloyd Wright.”

Professors Against Smart Growth and Light Rail – The List Continues to Grow – Both Democrats and Republicans –

More Photos on Tom Lane's Flickr Yahoo Photo Account -

Dr. Peter Gordon’s Blog (USC) on Smart Growth and Light Rail –

How King County Makes Housing Unaffordable, and Punishes Farmers Outside the Urban Growth Boundary –

Seattle Urban Growth Boundary Does Not Work – Each dot is 10 building pemits, 1991-2001 – 46,000 total – outside the brown PSRC Urban Growth Area in the Seattle metro. CLICK to enlarge, from Sightline of Seattle, Wa.